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Q: Fascinating, absolutely fascinating! It gave me nightmares for a week (and I love horror films).  Not that this was a horror film, but it did give me the chills. Next time I’m in the neighborhood, I will try and stop by. How did you know about this place? Did you stumble upon it while traveling or was it a recommendation of a questionable friend? A Dead Kennedy or Alien fan perhaps?

A: First of all, I’m happy the film gave you nightmares. We tried to recreate some of the nightmare feelings Giger talks about - and illustrates in his work.

I have heard about his museum in Gruyères (in the French part of Switzerland), but I haven’t seen it before we did the film. Of course, I knew Giger through Alien, and I am fascinated by his art! Another reason for doing this film was our curiosity. Steve Ellington, my co-director and editor, and I were wondering if this guy is really this “dark” or “weird” character many people imagine him to be.

Q: Do you speak German? Were you able to communicate with Giger? Seems like a guy who perhaps had an interesting childhood.

A: Yes, I speak (Swiss-)German, just like Giger. In fact, he speaks “High German” (like they speak in Germany) in the film. The Swiss dialect would have been too hard to understand for Germans or Austrians. We even wanted to do the film in English, but Giger was not too thrilled about that.

Yes, he must have had an interesting childhood. When he was a child, he found a mummy (or something) while exploring a tunnel. This must have left a deep impact on his life. In the documentary, he talks about how he liked to play with skulls, bones and spines. That always gets a laugh in the audience. But I can’t really tell you what made him paint like he does. Giger complains that too much is interpreted into it.

Q: Nothing is sacred there – babies, monkeys. Anything that creeped you out?

A: Nothing really creeped me out. Even though his art often depicts horrible, violent things, it’s also beautiful to look at, I think. However, some of the more explicit, sexual stuff is a bit too grotesque for me. Oh, a funny thing about the babies he often paints: Giger says they’re all self portraits.

Q: Besides art, Giger seems to be into music. Was the music original? Did he suggest any of it?

A: Giger is a big jazz fan and, as you can see in the film, he plays the piano. He told us that he was listening to that kind of music while creating his art, and he wanted to have basically no talk or interview segments, just jazz music throughout the film. Of course, we had to tell him, listen Hans Ruedi (H.R.’s real name), people want to hear what you have to say. Luckily, we could convince him. And for us, the music by Domenico Ferrari which is in the film is a better choice than jazz.

Q: Did he offer to play the piano for the doc, or did you suggest it in order to humanize him?

A: The piano thing was his idea. I took my camera and followed him through the museum, totally unscripted. We were thrilled that he sat down and started to play. It’s also funny how he constantly complains how the museum (which is his own!) is exhibiting his work.

Q: How did you approach Giger, did you know someone in common? Was he amenable to the project?

A: We tried to approach Giger directly through his website. But the only e-mail there was his agent’s. So we contacted him. Fortunately, he responded to our documentary request. He told us however, that it will be difficult to get Giger to do this as he is not too fond of doing interviews. We were advised to have the treatment for the documentary fed-exed to Giger’s home in Zurich at exactly 2 pm. Giger doesn’t get up before that time and he doesn’t always check his regular mail. So he picked up the letter, and one day later he called me on my cell phone. In a shy and quiet voice, he said that he would consider it. It took a while before he really got “on board”.

We are proud to say that Giger really likes the film and the way his art appears on the big screen. As an artist, he was obviously especially critical of how the images should look or shouldn’t. There have been TV news programs which didn’t treat his work with the respect it deserves. Some of that was badly lit or the news people didn’t compose the images nicely enough for the TV format.

Q: The setting is very pastoral, nice juxtaposition with the interior of the bar. This obviously didn’t go unnoticed by Giger. He seemed like an intense guy.  How long did it take you to film?

A: No doubt, Giger is an intense guy, but he is also very likable and humorous which can be felt when you watch the film. The filming with him took a little over an hour (he’s not overly patient). But filming his art took many visits to the museum which is located about three hours from Zurich. The lighting had to be perfect, so that took quite some time.

And yes, please visit his bar and museum if you happen to be in Switzerland. They’re truly amazing!

H.R. Giger’s Sanctuary

Switzerland, 2007, 19 min, VIDEO
In German with English subtitles

DIR: Nick Brandestini, Steve Ellington
PROD/DP: Nick Brandestini
ED: Steve Ellington
MUS: Domenico Ferrari
FEATURING: H.R. Giger

The short documentary features an interview and a museum tour with the master of the airbrush, the inventor of “biomechanics” and the creator of the Academy Award winning ALIEN. The artist talks openly about his fascination with the morbid; his fame and cult following; his fears and nightmares; and about his visions of the future.

Screening Times:

Monday, November 5th 4:45pm
ArcLight Theatre 13

Wednesday, November 7th 9:45pm
ArcLight Theatre 13

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